Re: Who else is wearing niches?

I'm sure there are a bunch of people who just like shopping for high end items, so they frequent the upscale fragrance shops and buy the pricey ones that smell the best. People buy high end watches, clothes, and such, no reason to think the same isn't true for fragrances.

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

I personally bet most people are unaware of the existence of niche fragrances (and far less buy them)
there is undoubtedly a market for luxury products that has a loyal segment of the population, but how many of these can usually buy niche? (I mean ,apart from collectors and enthusiasts).
I think there are people who read magazines or go to luxury boutiques and promptly buy an exclusive perfume.
but probably they don´t know of the existence of other brands or houses.

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

As was mentioned above, I think many non-fragheads become aware of them simply as a result of wandering into stores that sell high-end merchandise. Larger cities have department stores like Nordstroms that attract clientele that expect to see expensive perfumes : The wall of stuff that they have at the store in Portland, while not always uber-niche, is pretty impressive, and enough to tickle any curious person's imagination, as well as their pocketbook.

I suspect the really rare stuff is, simply by it's nature, only sold in a limited number of stores, and that their clientele are also made aware by the sales staff of the uncommon nature of the goods on sale.

While many purchasers are probably not aware of all the ins and outs of niche, I suspect they can tell when they like something, and if they are of the sort with plenty of ready cash, out the door they happily go with a bottle of something that you and I might spend weeks researching.

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

As was mentioned above, I think many non-fragheads become aware of them simply as a result of wandering into stores that sell high-end merchandise. Larger cities have department stores like Nordstroms that attract clientele that expect to see expensive perfumes : The wall of stuff that they have at the store in Portland, while not always uber-niche, is pretty impressive, and enough to tickle any curious person's imagination, as well as their pocketbook.

I suspect the really rare stuff is, simply by it's nature, only sold in a limited number of stores, and that their clientele are also made aware by the sales staff of the uncommon nature of the goods on sale.

While many purchasers are probably not aware of all the ins and outs of niche, I suspect they can tell when they like something, and if they are of the sort with plenty of ready cash, out the door they happily go with a bottle of something that you and I might spend weeks researching.

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

niche is a status thing for people with money. They may not even know what niche means, but they shop at saks fifth avenue or somewhere and, like everything else they own, buy expensive things to stand apart from everyone else. It's a status thing. my friend who worked at saks fifth avenue told me that creeds are very popular there among the clientele.

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

Originally Posted by Rüssel

I'd assume that most people know about Guerlain or Creed and other niche scents available in shops.

I'd assume the opposite - that creed brand awareness is about zero in a general cross-section of the population. guerlain is an LVMH beauty brand that you can buy in most airports. People might be more aware of that one.

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

Originally Posted by autumngleeman

niche is a status thing for people with money. They may not even know what niche means, but they shop at saks fifth avenue or somewhere and, like everything else they own, buy expensive things to stand apart from everyone else. It's a status thing. my friend who worked at saks fifth avenue told me that creeds are very popular there among the clientele.

I'm sure this is definitely true for some people, but don't lose sight of the other end of the spectrum: there are plenty of people right here on BN who do not have a lot of money but enjoy niche fragrances. The majority of the activity on the Splits board comes from exactly that audience.

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

Originally Posted by icanzapyou

I'm sure there are people who aren't on basenotes or fragrantica who are also interested in fragrances. Is the number huge? Probably not.

You mean like the majority of non-english speaking world? I know a lot of people here in Poland who are buying niche perfumes and are not familiar with Basenotes. Fragrantica is a little bit more popular in our country, but still it's a drop in a large lake...

Re: Who else is wearing niches?

Yes, I could vouch for 2-3 persons outside of Basenotes: one is the daughter of a wealthy university professor and very fashion conscious- she is a fan and regular wearer of Killian frags, the other one is an Austrian agronomic engineer and freelance agricultural entrepreneur, a cultured, mild-mannered and half dandified, half scholarly eldely gentleman whose signature scent for several decades is Knize Ten (though, partly also because of local patriotism in his case).